Received the following note from our friend and regular SCA contributor, Tom Pamperin. Please consider supporting his new book venture:

“If you’re getting this email it’s because you might be interested in my new book, Jagular Goes Everywhere: (mis)Adventures in a $300 Sailboat.

On Saturday, February 1st, I’ll be opening a 40-day fundraising project on www.kickstarter.com to pay for some of the costs to design and print the book. Basically, Kickstarter.com presents all kinds of projects—books, games, cds, and lots more—and allows their designers to ask for money to support them. It’s an all-or-nothing deal; if you raise all of the money you ask for (or more), you use it to launch your project. If you raise only part of the money you ask for, you get nothing.

To succeed, Kickstarter projects need to get lots of backers quickly. I want to have at least 200 by Monday, February 3rd.

So on Saturday I’ll be sending you a link to my Kickstarter page. When you get that link in your email, please do two things.

1. Click on the link to check out my project and become a backer right away, even if it’s just at the $1 level. If you need a rationalization for this shameless begging, how’s this?

Imagine you ran into me at a messabout, and I had capsized my boat and spilled all of my food and camping gear into the water (all too likely, I’m afraid). You’d probably buy me lunch, right? Maybe only a half sandwich or a side of potato salad or something, but you wouldn’t let me sit there with nothing, would you?

So, if you like my writing, please consider chipping in $1. If you really like my Jagular stories, maybe the $5 level would be better. If you want a copy of the book when it’s released in June, chip in $15—that’s the same price you’d pay from Amazon, except shipping will be free and you’ll get your book even sooner.

Remember, it’s not just the amount of money that matters, it’s the number of backers I can get right away to make the project more visible. To get 200 backers by Monday morning, I’ll need your help. Click on the link as soon as you get it and become a backer right away—if you’re like me, you might never do it at all if you don’t do it right away. (And don’t forget to check out the cool thank-you gifts you’ll receive for backing my project at different levels.)

2. Then, please share the Kickstarter link with Facebook, Twitter, family, friends, post it on blogs and websites, start random conversations about it with perfect strangers, whatever—help spread the word, and ask people to consider backing my project. With your help, I can reach the backers I’ll need. Without your help, I’ll never do it.

Many thanks! I really appreciate any help you can give me getting this Kickstarter project off to a good start. 200 backers by Monday morning is the first goal.